Marco Scutaro Designated for Assignment by San Francisco Giants

After battling back issues for the last year, Marco Scutaro has been designated for assignment by the San Francisco Giants. 

According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, this move doesn't necessarily mean the end for Scutaro in San Francisco:

On Jan. 28, the MLB.com transaction page officially confirmed Scutaro was released. 

Per Jorge Ortiz of USA Today, the Giants made the move to clear up a spot for recently signed outfielder Norichika Aoki, but they have every intention of keeping Scutaro:

Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News reports that another reason the Giants made the move is because Scutaro had to undergo another operation on his back recently:

Scutaro was an integral part of San Francisco's championship run in 2012, hitting .362/.385/.473 in 61 games after being acquired from Colorado. He was named MVP of the National League Championship Series that season and signed a three-year extension in the offseason.    

After being named to the All-Star team in 2013, Scutaro has appeared in just 51 games due to injuries. Giants general manager Brian Sabean told reporters following Scutaro's back surgery in December that it would require a lot of rehab before the team would know if he was physically capable of playing again, via ESPN.com.

"This is the type of thing, it's four-to-six months before we can know if baseball is possible," Sabean said. "I don't want to speak for the doctor or the procedure but you'd have to how he responds to the surgery and that's months away."

While that prognosis seems grim, from a baseball perspective, the Giants at least have an insurance policy in place. Joe Panik came up at the end of last season and performed well, hitting .305/.343/.368 in 73 games, and stabilized the No. 2 spot in the order. 

Even if Panik doesn't hit that well with teams having more of a sample to look at, the Giants don't have to feel pressured to bring Scutaro back or find an alternative solution. Given his age (39) and injury history, if Scutaro provides anything in 2015, it has to be considered a bonus for San Francisco.